


Purely and Truthfully

by Clara_Parlato



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Langst, M/M, Multi, implied panic attack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-09
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-09-14 13:57:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16914150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clara_Parlato/pseuds/Clara_Parlato
Summary: “Love him purely and truthfully. He’s been surrounded by fake love for a long time.”





	Purely and Truthfully

**Author's Note:**

> I am way too lazy to correct any errors, I’ll let future my deal with the regret later.

“So, Lance, what exactly is your power?”

Lance was glad he wasn’t drinking anything, otherwise Keith, who was sitting directly in front of him, would’ve taken a shower. Shiro wasn’t so lucky, though, with Hunk spiting his drink right on his face. His best friend turned to look at him with a half-worried, half-scared look, certainly wondering what and how exactly would Lance share his secret. Allura, the one who asked about his powers, looked at him curiously.

“Do you even have a power?”

“Of course I have, fire mullet!”

He did have a power, in fact. It just wasn’t like the others. Keith—unsurprisingly—being able to control fire, Pidge—surprisingly—making plants grow, Hunk turning into metal and Shiro controlling lighting. They were obvious and flashy and worked with no outside help. Lance, in contrast, needed more than just his powers; he needed a second element, a living being who would be at the receiving side of his power.

“Then what is it?”

“I don’t know how that matters. My power is not made for battling, don’t worry about it.”

“I bet is some lame power, like, making your hair grow faster or something.”

“Ha. Ha. Very funny, gremlin.”

“Even if it’s not useful in battle, I think it would be a good idea to share with the team.” Shiro, finishing cleaning himself with a napkin and sending an apologetic Hunk a reassuring smile, looked at Lance gently, clearly ready to drop the conversation if so the boy wished. “To straighten our bond. Of course, you don’t have to.”

“… Shiro, are you sure your power is not persuasion?”

“If it is, then I’m guessing your power is evasion.”

Holy quiznack, Shiro winked. Was he flirting? He was joking, clearly, and calling Lance out for his attempt to escape. Blush painted the Cuban’s face, a small chuckle escaping. Keith cleared his throat, trying to bring the attention to the conversation they were trying to have.

“It’s stupid, you guys will laugh.”

“Lance, it’s not stupid.”

“Hunk, please. Not even you believed me, and I told you after two years of friendship.”

“I can’t fight you in this.” Hunk sheepishly scratched the back of his head, small redness coating his cheeks.

“Jesus Christ, just tell us already. It can’t be worse than Joel Pattinson and his ability to turn into a rock.” Pidge was impatient, not that anyone blamed her. It had been almost a year since they had come to the Castle of Lions, and no one but Hunk knew what Lance’s power was.

“Fine, fine. It’s seduction.”

Lance expected them to fall off their chairs with laughter—he would’ve been hurt, but he at least was expecting it. What he didn’t expect was the stunned silence and widened eyes. He fidgeted in his seat, Hunk’s large palm resting on his back in comfort. Pidge was blinking rapidly. Keith looked like a statue. Shiro at least had the decency to close his mouth. At last, Allura spoke.

“As in… You can sexually attract people?”

“Weeeell…” He winced. “It’s not just sexual, it’s more of… Making them think they’re in love with me…?”

“Like a love potion.”

“Thanks, buddy. What Hunk said, it’s like a love potion. Or love spell, considering I don’t need to make people consume anything.”

The other Paladins were still staring, trying to process the information. Shiro was the first one to come back, assuring Lance that he wasn’t being judged, they were only surprised. It was obvious he wanted to ask something, and even more obvious what he wanted to ask, and Lance quickly explained that no, he didn’t use his powers to get in the Garrison or to do anything illegal. The boy actually hated telling about his powers because those were the first conclusion people made, that he had used his powers to get where he was, which erased al his hard work and well-deserved accomplishments.

“Use them. Right here, right now.”

“Pidge.”

“Shiro, I won’t believe Lance until I see with my own eyes,” Quickly turning to the boy in question, she amended, “Not that I don’t believe you couldn’t have those powers, I just don’t believe you actually have them. Like, you’re bad at flirting, can you blame me?”

“I’m not bad at flirting!”

“Not even an alien princess likes your pick-up lines!”

“Those are purposely bad, Pidge,” Allura interrupted the bickering before it could go further, “He tries to alleviate some of my stress with them, which, by the way, I am very thankful for, Lance. It’s nice to remember from time to time I am still a young lady and not just a soldier.”

“Anytime, beautiful.” Finger guns and a smirk, typical Lance.

“Ok, whatever, show us your power.”

“Nope, no way.”

“Why not?”

“The same reason love potions are forbidden in Harry Potter. They rob people’s freewill and force a fake infatuation. I don’t want to do that to any of you.”

“Hunk, let Lance use his powers on you.”

“Pidge!”

“What? Hunk already knows all about it, he’ll be fine. I doubt Allura or Keith would want to be under the spell and I want to observe. And never would Keith let Lance do anything to you, Shiro.”

“No.” Lance got up, brows furred. “I don’t want to use my powers unless I have to. Don’t believe me if you don’t want to, Pidge, I don’t care.” With a half-smile to Hunk and a wink in Allura’s direction, he left the room.

“Hunk—”

“Sorry, Pidge, but it’s not my place to tell you what Lance doesn’t want to share.”

* * *

Pidge didn’t have to wait much longer to see Lance’s powers in action, though.

Few days later, days that Pidge spent trying to make Hunk talk while Keith suspiciously hovered nearby, they landed in a new planet. The people there were peaceful, but very stubborn. They had their way of doing things and weren’t very fond of changing it. They wanted to attack the Galra base on their planet as quickly as possible, but that was not a good idea considering the little information they had and how simple their strategy was. Attack, destroy, leave nothing behind. That not only could end badly, it could attract a lot of the Empire’s unwanted attention to them.

Allura tried to talk their King out of it. Didn’t work.

Shiro tried to persuade them. Didn’t work.

Pidge showed them facts and statistics. Didn’t work.

Keith and Hunk didn’t even try, knowing Keith would lose whatever thin patience he had and Hunk would back off the first glare shoot at him.

Coran had stayed in the Castle with the mice.

It was up to Lance.

He usually would try to talk, to persuade, to show why the idea is so bad, but seeing the people who were better than him on those things fail made him sure of one thing: No way, Jose. That wouldn’t work at all. So, what was left was…

Lance sighed.

It wasn’t surprising seeing Lance preparing to flirt, he always put on a smooth smirk, thin lips opening to show off shiny teeth, one eyebrow arched, head a bit inclined.

They didn’t expect him to  _actually be smooth_. No pick-up lines, no puns, just a purred voice and semi open eyes. Long eyelashes framing bluest blue eyes. Lance had straightened his back, still sitting comfortably by the Prince’s side. Cheek resting in one hand, the other hand laying on his thigh, as if waiting to be grabbed.

And grabbed it was when the Prince smiled softly with a sudden gaze full of adoration. He brought it to his orange lips, kissing it with reverence. It was a startling contrast with the previous grump persona. Lance smiled pleasantly.

“I see you and my son are enjoying each other’s presence.”

Lance fixed his eyes on the King’s, and the team saw them flashing with something akin to lust. And power. Didn’t take long for them to understand that Lance was using his powers. Specially when the King reacted like a lovesick high schooler, bashfully looking away and fidgeting with his robes.

“Oh, father, I don’t know how I’ve lived all this time without meeting Lance.”

“That’s something I can understand, my son.”

The team thanked whatever God they weren’t drinking at that moment, or a rain would occur inside the room. Lance giggled, low, sensual. Keith was growling under his breath.

“I am very flattered you think so highly of me.”

“We think the universe of you.”

Keith thought they would look good on fire. Pidge agreed.

“Can I be selfish then and ask you two for something?”

“Anything, dearest.”

“Can you please agree with our plan? I know you’ve been doing things in your way up until now, but I worry your way won’t do you any good in this situation.”

“Anything for you, dearest.”

* * *

“We have one week.”

It was the first thing Lance said as soon as they were back at the Castle. Hunk had carefully guided him by his hand all the way back, trying to make sure he wouldn’t stumble and fall.

“Lance, are you ok?”

“I’m fine, Shiro.” Lance sighed, “My power takes a lot of me the more I use it.”

“Oh, yeah, by the way, what the quiznack?! You have any idea how much it could’ve helped us if you used your power more?”

“Shut up, Pidge.”

That was out of character. Lance could be rude and short even with his friends, but he never looked so angry and his words never wore such cutting tone. Blue eyes glared, daring them to stop him, when he announced his retreat to his room. Hunk sighed, hating to see that old wound trying to reopen.

“Lance’s power does more than tire him out. Its side effects happens to the victims too. Please, don’t bring it up, let him do it at his own time.”

* * *

Lance hated how the team was treating him. Pidge just avoided him in an effort to not swarm him with questions about his powers. He was thankful, but sad. Shiro looked uncertain most of the time, clearly not knowing how to act yet wanting to act. Hunk had entered full “baby Lance mode”. Keith was so conflicted it was painful. He had no idea what to do and say, but, at the same time, he didn’t want to leave Lance’s side. He was particularly clingy when in the presence of the King and his son.

Actually, the whole team seemed to get clingy when in presence of the King and the Prince.

Allura and Coran, bless those two, were the only ones acting normally, if not more efficiently.

It was with great relief he released his hold on the two royals at day three of their stay in that planet. Everything was made so even if they wanted, nothing Voltron did could be undone. A piece of art, that treaty.

It was with horrified silence Lance noticed the side effects of his powers.

“Why is he staring at you?”

“Keith, whatever you do, don’t leave my side and don’t let that prince get near me.”

Keith had never heard Lance sound more fearful, the boy clutching his sleeve tightly in between his fingers. Alarm bells rang in his mind, Lance wasn’t one to fear social interaction. No, that would be Keith himself. For Lance to be this reluctant, then something serious was happening. The Red Paladin immediately shot Shiro a look, one he knew very well, and Shiro alerted Allura it was already time to leave.

Lance had clutched his arm when they started to walk, long nails digging in his jacket. Keith had no idea when Lance had done his nails, but he had to agree that dark red looked good on Lance. The thought of Lance with his color was almost distracting enough for him to not notice the prince sprinting behind them. Almost.

“Lance! Going so soon? I was hoping to have a chat with you.”

“He’s not feeling well, I’m taking him back to the Castle.”

“C’mon, Lance, I just want to have a chat.”

Keith hated that he got ignored. Hated that Lance was trembling. Hated that the prince’s eyes were full of dense lust. Hated that he could read in those eyes every single thing that prince wanted to do with the Blue Paladin. Hated that he could see every obscene scenario running through the royal’s filthy mind. Hated the possessiveness and the obsession poorly hidden, swimming together with the tainted desire in pools of dark magenta.

Hated the whimper that left Lance’s mouth.

“I’m sorry, but if our Blue Paladin is not feeling well, then we must go.”

Keith loved Allura that moment, the firm voice and demanding nature. He waqs fully aware of his clenching fists, knuckles itching to get in contact with the man’s face and break the alliance.

Although he almost did that anyways when he saw the look of pure disgust the prince shot towards her. Luckily for the prince, his father called him and, with a last long look at Lance, he walked away.

“Keith…” Lance’s voice came, flickering like the flame of a candle, threatening to extinguish itself with the next breath of air. “Keith… Take me out of here, please.” He pleaded, tears forming.

The Red Paladin immediately scooped the boy in his arms and sprinted to the Castle of Lions, ignoring Allura’s and Shiro’s concerned glances. They would have time to talk about what happened when Lance wasn’t on the verge of a panic attack.

* * *

“He’s sleeping now.”

A collective sigh could be heard following Hunk’s statement. Hunk had grabbed Lance from Keith’s arms a taken him to his room as soon as he was close enough, shooting them a look assuring the team he would take care of it.

“What exactly happened?” Pidge was fidgeting with her glasses, anger and worry not being a good combination. “Besides that prince being a complete creep, I mean.”

“… I’ll explain, but, please, don’t bring it up to Lance until he’s ready to talk about it.”

“Hunk, are you sure? We can wait until Lance decides to tell us.”

“Shiro, shut your quiznack,” Keith growled, arms crossed “Did you see what happened? I want to be ready if some shit like that happens again.”

“Besides, let’s not lie to ourselves, we all want to know what is that Lance hides from us.” Allura added. Shiro still didn’t look too comfortable with the idea, but, following Allura’s words and being truthful to himself, he wanted to know why Lance had acted that way.

“You know how powers have side effects? Like, how Keith’s fire can burn him after some time, or how Shiro can lose control of his power depending on his mood?” They nodded. “Well, Lance’s is a bit more complicated. Because it mess with people’s minds, it has a bunch of side effects, like headaches and memory loss. There’s two, though, that are the worst.” Hunk closed his eyes and breathed deeply, reading himself. “One of them is a coma.

“It happens only to Lance. If he uses his powers for too long, he’ll enter a coma that, in the best of the hypothesis, will have weeks of duration. That’s one of the reasons he said we only had week to settle things down. Had we took our sweet time, by the end of the second week he would be in coma.

“The next one is, in my opinion, even worse. You see, it happens at random, causes trouble 100% of the time and it’s never certain how long it will take to pass. Infatuation. The victim’s forced romantic interest turns into a sick infatuation, one that wants nothing other than Lance, and it wants and it wants. Determined to have him, to possess him.”

An expression of mortified understanding washed over the others. It made so much sense. The heated look full of liquid desire, the stubbornness behind the pleading voice, the overall demeanor of an owner being denied their favorite toy.

“Once, after using his powers, a guy had such a strong infatuation, he stalked Lance for days. Lance was paranoid, he could tell something wasn’t right. But the boy was smart, he knew how to hide… In the end, he kidnapped Lance.” The other clearly flinched, each clenching their muscles as if holding themselves back from lashing out. “We got there in time thanks to Lance, whose paranoia had led him to prepare for something like that, and made preparations. I won’t go in details, but we, I helped, we found him in the guy’s basement, locked in what one could call human sized bird cage.”

“I’m going to kill that asshole. As soon as we get back.”

“Keith, I know you’re angry and, believe me, all of me agrees with the idea, but that’s not the right thing to do. I’m sure the authorities took care of it.” Allura commented, anger poorly veiled under her diplomatic façade.

“The guy wasn’t charged because it was considered Lance’s fault, for the infatuation was a result of his power.”

“On another thought, Keith, please go on with your plan.”

“Allura, don’t encourage him.” Shiro deadpanned.

“Did… Did that guy…?” Pidge didn’t finish the phrase, but they all could understand what she was trying to ask. They all grew tense again, the atmosphere thick enough to be cut with a spork.

“No, no! He didn’t, but he was going to, that’s for sure… It took me a month to make Lance leave his house.” It was easy to see that the Yellow Paladin didn’t want to dwell in that memory, and to be honest, none of them wanted to know any details of it either. “Look, Lance’s powers have brought him more trouble than anything he’s ever done, and he pranked the Garrison higher ups every other day. I’m not saying you should coddle him, that wouldn’t help and he would be very annoyed. I’m just asking you to understand that he has problems and that he’ll go to you about them at his own time.”

“We understand, Hunk.” Coran, who had been silently digesting the conversation, reassured the boy. “Is there anything else we can do?”

“Love him purely and truthfully. He’s been surrounded by fake love for a long time.”

They had never been in more synchrony than when they promised that to Hunk.


End file.
